


Keeping Watch

by victoria_p (musesfool)



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Tumblr Ask Box Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-17
Updated: 2013-01-17
Packaged: 2017-11-25 20:55:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/642874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesfool/pseuds/victoria_p
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zoe takes care of Wash while he's ill.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keeping Watch

**Author's Note:**

> written for the prompt: Zoe/Wash, Nurse Me for an anonymouse on Tumblr.

Zoe don't get much chance to nurse her man, which is good, because despite patching herself and Mal up over and over again during the war, she ain't the best at it. As much trouble as the doctor and his sister are, she's right glad to have them aboard when Wash takes ill. Simon gives him some aspirin and a shot from their meager supply of antibiotics, and tells Zoe that really, time and rest and fluids are the best medicine for what ails him. 

Zoe thanks Simon and then sets about making soup and filling water bottles so she don't have to keep climbing up out of their bunk when Wash needs a refill. With that done, she curls up on the bed beside him and watches him shiver in his sleep. 

It's the late evening when his fever spikes; he talks more nonsense than usual, his eyes wide and glassy and his skin hot beneath her lips. She waits beside him, patient as a stone, for the fever to break, and when sweat starts beading on his brow, she's there with a soft handkerchief to sponge it away. 

His eyes flutter open at the gentle touch. "Zoe?"

"I'm right here," she says.

"Mopping my brow. Am I still feverish? Is this a hallucination?"

"It's real enough," she answers, running her thumb along the curve of his cheek. "Fever broke."

"I appreciate the brow-mopping," he says, giving her a sly smile, "but maybe there could be some sponge-bathing too?"

Zoe grins and presses a kiss to his mouth. "You ain't up for that yet."

"But soon? There could be sponge-bathing?"

"Play your cards right, you might just get the happy ending you're hoping for."

Wash settles back against the pillows, his eyes already fluttering closed again. "I have the best wife. Have I told you that lately?"

"Could stand to hear it a little more, maybe."

"I'll get right on that," he murmurs, voice trailing softly into sleep. 

Zoe drops the handkerchief onto the night table and settles down beside him to keep watch.


End file.
